|
Work and prayer on Labor Day
Labor Day is a special day. Even though it is not a religious celebration, Catholics happily celebrate it because it recognizes the value of an activity essential for human beings: work.
According to history, the idea of celebrating Labor Day in the United States came from Matthew Maguire, a machinist from Paterson, N. J., who wanted to recognize those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
In most of the European and Latin American countries, the equivalent of Labor Day is celebrated on May 1, a date that Pope Pius XII wanted to include in the Catholic liturgical calendar, creating the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.
This relation between faith and work is not new in the Christian tradition. In the Gospel, Jesus includes workers, field laborers and shepherds in his parables to teach us about God and his Kingdom.
In the seventh century, a great saint, St. Benedict of Nursia, founded the order of monks who in time would be known as Benedictines. Benedict, in whose honor our current Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, has chosen his name, wanted his monks, even though they lived in a monastery praising God, to also work in order to earn their livelihood. They would worship God not only through prayer, but also through their work. In this way, the Benedictine monks helped improve society in Europe. Their monasteries expanded throughout the European continent, giving it spiritual unity. They also taught agricultural techniques to the people and preserved the classical culture through their work copying the great Greek and Roman philosophical and artistic works.
This cultural and spiritual revolution was founded in a simple motto: “ora et labora,” pray and work. Since its beginnings then, the church has intimately linked these two activities: prayer and work.
For us Catholics, prayer is essential. St. Alphonsus Liguori used to say sharply: “He who doesn’t pray, won’t be saved.” With this phrase, the saint wanted to emphasize how important prayer is for our life. In the same way that work guarantees bodily food, prayer is the nourishment for the spirit. Without prayer, the soul dies, just like the body does when it is deprived of food and water.
For this reason, Labor Day must be also a Day of Prayer for us Catholics. Both are intimately related, to the point that prayer is a kind of “work” — in the sense that it is an activity in itself — and that work must become a prayer, if lifted and offered up to God.
Jesus reminds us that “the laborer deserves his keep.” In the Archdiocese of San Antonio we have many “laborers of the vineyard of the Lord,” dedicated priests who work without thinking of their “keep.” On Sept. 8, we will have the joy of recognizing the efforts of some of these “workers of the harvest,” when they receive the title of “monsignor” — a recognition given by the Holy See — to nine of our priests.
In these days, let us pray for them, for all workers, and in a special way for those who work for our spiritual health. Let us pray that we will always have a worthy job, and that the tables of families everywhere will be filled with the bread that nourishes their body, and their souls will be nourished by the Bread of Life given to us by Jesus in the Eucharist.
May Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, model of a prayerful worker, fill us with blessings of work and peace.
|
|